Improvement in burglar-proof safes



@uitrit ,tetra 'atrat @fitta LINUS YALE, JR., OF SHELBURNE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS. Letters Patent No. 71,110, dated .November 19, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURGLARi-PROOP SAFBS.

To ALI. WHoM 1T MAY eoNCEnN:

Be it known that I, LINUS YALE, Jr., of Shelburne Falls, in lthe State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Burglar-Proof Safes; 'and I do hereby declare that the followingis afull, clear,

and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specifi#` cation, in whichv Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a vertical, and l Figure 8 a horizontal section, taken at the lines A a and B b, of iig. 1. The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures. Burglars have succeeded in forcing open iron safes by driving series of wedges between theedges of the door and .the surrounding framing, each successive series of wedges being thicker, and various plans of construction have been tried to guard against such modes of opening; but, so far as Iam informed, Without success.

I have invented a method of construction which is an effectual protection against such modes of forcing open safes, and my` said invention consists in making the edges'of the door, or of the door and surrounding frame, of a bending 01 equivalent ferm, to leave au open wedged-formed space all around between the edges of the door and the surrounding frame, and extending to,'er nearly to, the surface of the rebate of the door-frame, so that such open space shall present sloping sides so-great, say as great as the slope of wedges, that the edges of wedges, when attemptedto be driven, shall strike againstand be arrested by the face cf the rebates of the door-frame against which 'the door shuts. i

In the accompanying drawings', which represent the door-frame and door of an iron safe or vault, the door a is hinged in the usual or any suitable manner tothe frame b, into and against which it shuts. The sides, top, and bottom of the door-frame are, as usual, made with one or two rebates, the front face of which, as at c, is parallel with the plane ef the door when closed, 'and thc edges of these rebates are bevelled outward, as at d,

and the edges of the door, sides, top, and bottom, from the inner face of the rebate, is bevelled, as at e, the reverse of the bevels of 'the door-frame. In this wayI form V-s'haped open spaces, g g g g, along thefcur edges of the door between it and the door-frame, and extending from the face of the rebate in the door-frame to the' v outer surface of the door, into which wedges cannot be driven, as it will be obvious that wedges made as blunt as the said open spaces, would be stopped by their points coming into contact with the face of the rebates in the door-frame, and, if made more blunt than the said open spaces, the required force for breaking open `a safe could not be obtained. y Y

It. will be yobvious that the form of the said open spaces, and the angle of linclination of the sides thereof,

maybe varied, Without departing from the character of my said invention; and, although I have above described v the said open spaces as being formed by bevelling Athe edges of the-door andof the door-frame in opposite direc-Il tion, I do not wish to be'understood as limiting my claim of inventionitherete, as it will be obvious that thesame result in kind can be lattained by bevelling the edges of the door only or of the door-frame.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by .Letters Patent, as a means of preventing safes and vaults from being forced open by wedges, is' l i Making an open space between the edges of the door and the door-frame, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

. n LINUS YALE. Jn. Witnesses:

CHAs.`SrEEn, A. DE LACY. 

